The Meanest Mom Ever

Okay, who knew Hannah Montana could cause so many problems. I'll explain... Emma, Maggie and myself go shopping for Emma's summer clothes, she has very little and needs a lot more. So we go to target and then head over to Kohl's. They always have lots of cute skirts and I've been informed that she won't wear any shorts, just "skirts that twirl and cute dresses." So we go to the little girls section and find skirts and some jammies. Unfortunately, she also saw the purses. Now anyone who knows Emma knows she loves purses. She sees this Hannah Montana purse and "just has to have it!" I told her no...wow...wrong answer! She flipped out. Screaming and crying and making a scene. I had to keep telling myself "I love my girls, I love being a mom." She sits down and tells me she won't leave until she gets it. So I pick her up and Maggie starts crying and trying to dive out of the cart. I told her we wouldn't buy anything and we leave. I had to literally drag her out of the store. It finally started to hurt so she stood up. We get to the car and she tells me I'm the meanest mom ever! You know, I can handle that. So we have a good chat. I ask her, "Why do you need another purse?" Emma: "It has a fun arm handle thingy!" Mom: "How many purses do you have right now?" Emma: "12." 12!! For a 4 year old I think that's plenty. So she tells me that she wants a new family and she's leaving the house. So I ask her where is she going..."To Grandma and Grandpa Powell's! They'll buy my whatever I want!" I laughed so hard, that's funny! She needs to ask her dad about that. Anyway, I tell her I'm going back in to buy the skirts and she needs to wait in the car. Her response..."FINE!!! But then you take me to live at Grandma's!!!" She actually did calm down and realized how silly it was to flip out like that. We had a really good chat about how she acts and how it affects her and me. I assured her because of the way she acted she'll never get that purse. Again, I was told I'm the meanest mom ever. But that line actually makes me feel good. I must be doing something right if she thinks I'm horrible right??

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was no doubt, lots of fun. Nick was sick, so I was flying solo at church with the girls. I think they were a little antsy because the Easter Bunny hadn't come yet. He decided that it's best for him to come after church to we don't have to fight over taking any candy or toys with us. We reminded Emma all day Sunday and a couple days before that Easter isn't about the easter bunny, candy or easter egg hunts, it's about the Resurrection and the life of Jesus Christ. She was very good to remember and to listen. Maggie is still too young to get it. She just loves the suckers in her easter basket. Hence the reason her mouth is all blue. Love those blue suckers!! We were able to enjoy a little time together as a family and then my parents, Mari & her room mate Rebecca, Grandma Holyoak, and of course Cole, came over for dinner. Aly was on Choir Tour in California and we missed her a whole lot, that's why we invited Cole, to have a little piece of Aly with us (that's her man). Grandma & Grandpa Cook came with a few more gifts for the family, books for the girls & Enchanted! Nick and I got a FHE box. My smart mom knows me all too well. I always need help there. I made pumpkin rice soup, nobody was too sure about it at first, but they all liked it and there wasn't a single drop left over. Even Cole, the pumpkin-anything-hater enjoyed it. We played some games and tried to eat dessert, but no doubt, I screwed it up. It was an eclair type dessert w/vanilla pudding, but I bought the wrong kind...the cook & serve, not the instant....my bad. Oh well, we had enough candy to fill up every one's sugar needs. But most importantly, we got to spend time together as a family and remember the great importance of Easter & the sacrifice made for us to be an eternal family and return to our Father in Heaven and Savior. Hope you all enjoyed your day!

Easter Egg Hunt

We usually do the Easter Egg Hunt at our house, so we did this year again. We thought it would be a miserable day, but the weather worked out perfectly. We had my brother Chris' kids (Garrett, Keaton, Maysen & Jaycie), my girls, & our sister in law Kelly's (Garrett & Averie). Aunt Mari, Uncle James & Aunt Jerrica came to supervise the events as well as Grandma & Grandpa Cook, Grandma & Grandpa Powell & Grandma Holyoak. Maysen, Garrett C, Averie, Garrett P, Jaycie, Chris, Emma, Keaton & Maggie (left to right)

Maggie's favorite part, no doubt, all of the candy. Notice a sucker in each hand!

Emma with her stash of eggs & candy.

Maggie got first dibs on the front yard, she made out pretty good.

We also do a money egg. Usually there's a quarter or a dollar for each kid. Well I have to say all of the kids made bank this year. Uncle James & Aunt Jerrica brought a $2 bill for every kid. Grandma & Grandpa Cook did 18 money eggs, 9 $1 & 9 50Cent eggs. Grandma & Grandpa Powell also threw in a dollar for each kid. No doubt they loved the extra money. If you notice in the first picture, Garrett P is holding up his money. He was the most excited. It was so fun to have everyone over and to be able to enjoy each other's company. We all hung out for a while and just enjoyed the nice day.

What are sisters for right??

I have to say, Emma & Maggie make a great combo. Emma enjoys doing Maggie's hair and Maggie enjoys letting Emma do it. Of course Emma did have to put on one of her favorite Baby Einstein movies to get her to sit still. I love seeing the girls spend time together, I know Maggie won't remember this but Emma probably will and luckily we have the pictures for it. Aren't girls just so much fun???

This was such a cute picture, I just couldn't help but post it. Maggie and I had just dropped Emma off at Grandma & Grandpa Powell's for a sleep over. We headed home around 5 and I thought she might fall asleep so I gave her a book to read to help entertain her...pointless. She fell asleep while reading this book. Luckily I had my camera with me so I pulled over and snagged a couple of pictures of her. I'm not suprised she's so exhausted...she keeps us all up every night. She'll usually wake up and cry for about an hour or two every night. This has been going on for a month, so I took her into the dr just to make sure there's nothing physically wrong. No, she's fine. Who knows why she wakes up. Nick and I never go in, we just let her cry it out. I'm afraid that until it stops there will be no convincing Nick to expand our family. In fact, during one of these crying episodes, I did hear him say "And she wants to have 3 kids!" I sure hope it gets better! Any suggestions??

Another St. George get-a-way

Lately it seems that when we talk about going on vacation, we actually mean just going to St. George. So we decided that we should go down again. We headed down with The Budges on wednesday & The Ruttenburs came down on thursday. Hawkens joined us friday. Poor Josh...7 little girls running around screaming. Maggie discovered on the way down she has a hidden talent, she can successfully suck on two binki's at one time...as is demonstrated here. We alll had a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful. mid 70's the whole time we were there. Nick and Justin got to golf a couple of days and the girls got to shop. The kids even got to go to the park 4 times in 3 days, not too bad. Monte decided on their little trip to Vegas that they'd grab a cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. It was SOOO good. But it was so big that between 7 adults we couldn't finish it. It was so nice to get away and be able to enjoy our own "spring break" and get some spring fever going. Now that we're back in the cold I'm dying! I watch the weather for St George and want to go back. But oh well...such is life right?

Open for Business

Emma recently decided she was going to open her own grocery store. So she cleaned out my pantry (note the empty shelves behind her) and now I do all my grocery shopping from her. The only problem is she's a little pricey. Like her sign says, "All Items Are Only $55" That is from the horses mouth. I tried to buy a can of cream of mushroom soup and that was her response. So anyone who needs to borrow a little something, we're open for business, but it's going to cost you.
This is Maggie's response to Emma's store.....